Chapter 2

~ Cat ~

Sure enough, Bree swallowed down a hard lump in her throat. Kept her chin hitched, though, because that was how strong and resilient she was.

She told me, “I was happy Derek invited me tonight.”

Okay… Can you say complete and utter subject change?!

“Though I really wish it would have been you,” she hastily added with a pointed look.

I wondered why we’d moved on from Konstantin. Abruptly and quite purposefully.

Yes, I was wholly relieved Bree and I had resolved our little tiff. But didn’t that mean she’d want to share with me this romantic hiccup? Because without doubt, something amiss in the land of international dating had occurred.

I wasn’t sure if she was hesitant to discuss Konstantin because we were supposed to be wrapped around my engagement bliss, or if she genuinely just didn’t want to talk about him.

So I very gently probed, “What were the Vienna plans?”

Her eyes rolled upward for a few moments, as though she needed to compose her thoughts on the matter. Then she speared me with a look that said she was at a complete loss over all of this and confessed, “I was flying in for a concert. He’d sent me a front row ticket weeks ago and promised that afterward, we’d spend a few days in Italy—just the two of us.”

My gaze narrowed on her. “And then…?”

“And then he came down with the flu.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and ground her teeth.

I resisted a smile.

“So he canceled tonight’s performance,” she informed me with disconcertion in her tone.

“Well, Bree…” Again, I cautiously ventured… “The man might be bedridden at present. So…”

“So?!” Now she threw her hands up in the air. Thank God I’d taken the bottle of champagne from her. “So, he shouldn’t have told me not to come! He should let me take care of him!”

I couldn’t exactly argue that logic. Except to offer, “He might be one of those guys who doesn’t do sickness well. You know, the kind who suddenly reverts to his inner five-year-old, curls up in the fetal position and just wants to be coddled.”

“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of someone with the flu,” she all-but huffed.

“I’m not saying you aren’t,” I quietly asserted. “I’m saying some men don’t want their girlfriends to see them in that vulnerable state.”

Her gaze drifted away. “I get that. Except… I want to be the kind of girlfriend he can rely on to see him in a vulnerable state.”

My heart wrenched. Bree for-sure had a mad-crush.

Well, she’d claimed that day at Caroline’s that it was more than that—that she was in love.

I couldn’t belittle her feelings, of course. She’d listened to me try to ascertain what the hell was going on between me and Knox. She’d latched onto the very significant connection we had that needed to be sorted out, that required a definitive path.

That was precisely what Bree sought with Konstantin Vasil.

I had to validate her concerns and her emotions.

“It’s amazing of you to want to be by his side when he’s at his worst,” I assured her. “He probably doesn’t want to put you out with the travel and the time off of work and doing the coddling thing. Give the man a few days to recover,” I suggested. “Maybe you can share a belated celebration in a week or two.”

She groaned. “You of all people know how difficult it is to be away from the man you want.”

I couldn’t deny that, now could I?

I pulled in a deep breath.

Bree said, “Let’s not dwell on this, Cat. It’s New Year’s Eve. This is a party, right?”

“Right,” I concurred. “And I’m so sorry I’ve been preoccupied lately. I haven’t even had the chance to thank you for the bouquet you sent when I was laid up.”

Bree’s gaze flitted over the bandage on my forehead. I knew there was still faint bruising on my skin, but I wasn’t really in any pain—at least nothing a couple ibuprofen couldn’t cure.

She said, “I heard how you defended yourself against Luke Preston.” Admiration tinged her eyes as she added, “I’m so proud of you, Cat. That had to be terrifying and yet…you didn’t back down.”

“Adrenaline rush,” I confessed with a nonchalant shrug. “I can’t explain it any other way. Although… Damned if Knox wasn’t Mr. Johnny on the Spot, swooping in to save the day.”

“I know how tormented he’s been over the attack, Cat. But…you’re right. Thank God he was in Birch and close at hand.”

“Agreed. And everything Riley taught me in self-defense class came into play so perfectly—including the pepper spray. You do carry a bottle, right?”

Bree laughed softly. “It’s not exactly a staple of my wardrobe. In the Heights—” She clamped her mouth shut for several suspended seconds. Then she said, “How absurd it’d be for me to claim Heights women don’t need self-defense classes or other mechanisms, when it was a Heights guy who stalked you, Cat. Busted into your apartment and…”

A shiver ran through her.

It did me as well—and it wasn’t the titillating kind this time.

Luke Preston had almost done more unspeakable things to me than just backhanded me so hard my head had slammed into the corner of my coffee table.

I imagined Knox had relayed some of the gritty details to Bree, and that was why she’d suddenly paled. She knew how brutally violent Luke’s attack on me had been.

She immediately said, “You’re absolutely, correct, Cat. I’ll pick up several bottles and always keep one within reach.”

“Thank you,” I told her, with relief. “I can’t talk about what happened because I’m pressing charges and Jonathan has a team of lawyers prepping a case against Luke, but I can certainly serve as a cautionary tale. So please, be careful.”

“I’m pretty low-key these days,” she promised. “In love, remember?”

“Yeah, but… Konstantin isn’t in Oregon to keep an eye on you.”

“So true,” she wistfully said. Rather than continue to wallow in her misery, she suddenly clasped my hand and declared, “You are so lucky to have such awesome people in your life, Cat—keeping an eye on you!”

“I know,” I happily concurred. “Knox and Riley literally saved my life.”

Her gaze narrowed, quizzically. “I don’t know who Riley is. You’ve never mentioned him before tonight.”

“Riley Alexander. He’s my neighbor. I’d introduce you, but…” My gaze swept the immediate area. The restaurant was packed. Most of the tables had been cleared away to make room for group gatherings around high-tops, and a temporary dance floor of parquet wood filled the front portion of the establishment, by the deep bay window. There was a live band, currently on break, but music flowed from the sound system to keep the energy flowing and the people on their feet.

“Well, anyway,” I said with a shake of my head over Riley’s absence—he must still be at the gym. “Again, I’m so glad you’re here, Bree.”

“Me, too. And that Cristal is for you and Derek.”

The bottle was decorated with plump, shimmering golden strands in a festive manner.

“Ah, Bree…” I laughed. “Always trying to class me up.”

“You are pure class, Cat,” she insisted. And gave me a long hug. “I’ve missed you so much.”

She choked me up.

“Don’t go pretending you don’t enjoy expensive bubbly,” she added when she released me. “I know who you’re engaged to—and I know his father’s incredibly high-end taste.”

“Well, yeah, I mean…” I gave a noncommittal shrug. “We have been doing quite a bit of celebrating with friends, in addition to Knox’s father.”

“As you should. This bottle is for your own private celebration.” Bree winked.

I blushed. As she knew I would.

“Get naked and pour it all over each other—then lick it off,” she teased. “You two deserve it.”

The heat on my cheeks deepened. My teeth clamped down on my lower lip.

Bree leaned in close and challenged, “If you’re thinking about it, Cat, then by all means…go for it. I sure as hell would—if only my object of desire wasn’t thousands of miles and a continent away.”

“Something you really should rectify, Bree,” I suddenly countered.

Whichever direction she chose, romantically—to continue pursuing this thing with Konstantin, or to find someone else—I wanted her to be as swept away as I was. She deserved that.

“I’ve recently discovered there’s nothing quite as wonderful as snuggling under the covers with a hot-‘n’-hunky bod on cold winter nights such as this…” I wagged my brows.

“And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tiny bit envious,” she admitted. “But my stars haven’t yet aligned, Cat. I’m not sure they ever will…”